Is It Safe To Have Methadone When Diagnosed With Hepatitis C?

Posted on Mon, 29 Jun 2015

Question: My son is on methadone liquid and has hepatitis C. What are the harmful side effects of doing this drug with hep-c. He can't gain weight,his burps smell like rotten eggs and he constantly is eating sweets! He won't take medicine for hep-c but has been tested and has this. I am watching my son waste away before me. I can't make him see a doctor because he is 27 years old. Please please help me!! Thank you

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (48 minutes later)

Brief answer....your son needs to be investigated regularly even if he is not taking treatment.
Detailed answer....
Hello,
Thanks for the query
I have read your query and understand your concern.
You have basically two questions.
I m going to answer then one by one.
1st....methadone can be taken by a hepatitis c patient however,the dose needs to be adjusted if there is severe liver damage.
2nd....as far as treatment of hepatitis c is concerned,not all people require treatment..
If your blood reports and liver biopsy shows that you have chronic hepatitis c but no liver damage,then you don't need any treatment.But if liver damage is there,then you definitely require treatment.
You definitely need to be under the guidance of a gastroenterologist on regular basis.
There is no definite treatment which we can institute without knowing the exact status of condition of liver.
I hope it helps however you are most welcome to revert to me for any further query.
Best of luck
Thanks

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar